how old is your last name?

[guyver01]

somewhere along the line we can basically just assume that everyone with the same last name in chinese is somehow related...

LOL no...

but how do you honestly know that Jimmy Lee isn't related to Jonny Lee ???

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

About 3 or 4 generations.

 

[guyver01]

. How many smiths do you think there are. That makes it hard to trace western names if you happen to have such a popular name.

Yes it does.

my GF's last name is smith... and her grandparents, greatgrandparents, and greatgreatgrandparents have done an awesome job of recording their family history..

it can be done... it just takes some existing effort.

 

[Ika]

LOL no...

but how do you honestly know that Jimmy Lee isn't related to Jonny Lee ???

Without family tree/genealogical evidence, it's impossible to know for sure... but the chinese emphasis on surnames was/is MUCH more important than it is in european/western culture. names don't just get translated and lost and whatnot... it defined who you were, your entire identity. That, and the fact that surnames were character-based makes it harder to... I don't know, lose or something.

I'm pulling all this out of my ass, though... I don't really know anything about chinese surname genealogy. It's probably even more difficult considering the number of people in china... whatever.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

my last name is very ambiguous. like my genitals.

apparantly there are indians, japanese, africans and italians with my last name.

 

[Leros]

My last name is a really common Italian last name. Like an Italian 'Smith'. However, I can't seem to google up any information about the name.

 

[brblx]

medieval-ish, i guess, like most last names of english origin.

 

[Ika]

my last name is very ambiguous. like my genitals.

wat

 

[gaidensensei]

According to web searches, my surname originates around 1766–1122 bc or 1122–221 bc.

 

[gaidensensei]

"Your last name is Spanish.

First found in the kingdom of Castile, in north central Spain. Among the earliest records there is evidence that the family was present in Ciudad Real (Castilla La Nueva) during the Middle Ages."

Man your Kim jong avatar is deceiving, I thought you were orient asian till now.

 

[gaidensensei]

wtf? what happened to all the asians in ATOT? I thought this board was like 30% asian. from the looks of it so far I'm the only one...

Always got that feeling you were asian. Maybe you gave it away somewhere.

 

[coreyb]

1052 ad

 

[Perknose]

my last name is very ambiguous. like my genitals.

apparantly there are indians, japanese, africans and italians with my genitals.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

German: status name for a village headman, from a contracted form of Middle High German schultheize. The term originally denoted a man responsible for collecting dues and paying them to the lord of the manor; it is a compound of sculd(a) ‘debt’, ‘due’ + a derivative of heiz(z)an ‘to command’. The surname is also established in Scandinavia.

So, in a nutshell, I'm a tax collector/Debt COMMANDER. Pretty funny if you knew I was in credit card and student load debt.

 

[MikeMike]

late 1600's but there are so many with my last name, or a form of it that it isn't funny

 

[Possessed Freak]

Evidently, it has been around since the 1200's.

 

[Snapster]

At least 1200 due to a signature being on an officially recognised charter. Scottish Gaelic is probably more.

 

[acheron]

old German name, probably 1300s.

 

[Anubis]

pre 7th century Norse viking origin

 

[meltdown75]

how do you guys know this? Google machine? i would think mine is fairly old because it's common but who knows.

anyhoo my Dad was adopted so i never really gave much weight to my last name. i never tried to trace my lineage because my Dad's Dad was a crazy alcoholic Indian from Manitoba that he never met. my Mom's family is French Canadian.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Midevil English surname pre 1100 AD

 

[PaperclipGod]

Long ways... but its a fairly common name. Personal lineage is pretty cool, though: Notable chemist, WW2 diplomat to axis country, OSS spy, marriages w/ astors and rockefellers, famous abolitionist, mayor of boston, original namesake came over on the arbella w/ mayflower, and a whole lot more boring english history. I thought the english history was more interesting, until I realized that pretty much everyone in england is related to nobility in one way or another.

 

[StrangerGuy]

At least 1800 years. Chinese last names endures a long time.

 

[swanysto]

1986

 

[Anubis]

how do you guys know this? Google machine? i would think mine is fairly old because it's common but who knows.

anyhoo my Dad was adopted so i never really gave much weight to my last name. i never tried to trace my lineage because my Dad's Dad was a crazy alcoholic Indian from Manitoba that he never met. my Mom's family is French Canadian.

i know because we did one of the massive family tree /ancestry things like 20 years ago

also google